Thread: Bad Boy "Outlw"? 2010 model review

Let me preface this review by saying that before I bought a 2010 Outlaw I researched Dixie Chopper, Xmark, Huskie, and several others. I decided on the Outlaw because of a relationship with Helms Tractor in Montgomery, Al. I've spent probably 40,000-50,000 with Dick Helms in the last 5 years and have developed a trusting relationship with him and still do. I've seen many people requesting reviews on the Bad Boy line and felt compelled to write this. I'm 64 years old and nobody rides my equipment but me. The mower has a 54 inch deck, 31HP kawasaki engine and ZT5400 drive train. I'll break this review down by year for the 2.5 years I've owned it:

2010
Within two weeks I started throwing belts and anti scalp wheels started falling off. Also, the height adj. pin kept vibrating out. Having an automotive background, I realized the problem was in the hardware(nuts and bolts). I contacted Bad Boy, explained the problem, and they sent me a new belt and a set of scalp wheels. This problem continued thru the 2010 cutting season. They even recommended that I locktite the hardware, which I did to no avail.

2011
At the beginning of the cutting season, I was still having problems with belts coming off.The manual(actually it's more of a brochure) stated to adjust the spring tension to the thickness of a credit card. After adjusting the spring I started breaking springs(3 of them). Disgusted, I took the mower to Helms. After a week he informed me the mower was ready. When I picked the mower up I checked the spring with a credit card and you could actually get three credit cards in the spring. When I asked him about it he said "oh, you have to adjust the spring by eye". Huh? I continued to have the original bolt and nut problem as in 2010 but managed to keep them from falling off by tightening them every other cutting.

2012
After about four cuttings(late April) while cutting I noticed some vibration and strange noises(a bad sign on this mower). I stopped it and noticed the deck had fallen off the hangers. After looking it over, I noticed the adjusting pin had fallen out and gotten lost, allowing the deck to fall on the ground and vibrated the deck off the hangers. I put a bolt and nut in place of the pin, reattached the the deck and loaded the mower up for Helms. When I got to Helms I showed him the scalp wheels, which had two hours on them since I tightened. They were extemely loose. The tech at Helms said John, your left rear wheel is loose, this is probably where your vibration is coming from.I had a flat in June, 2010, repaired the tire and re-torqued the wheel to 80 ft lb. This was about 35 hours ago.

I really didn't want to turn this into a book but after fighting with Bad Boy for a week they have told me the mower is out of warranty, although all the problems I've had have gone on since the mower was two weeks old. I can't say enough bad things about Bad Boy customer service. After looking at the 2012 Outlaw, I notice they have put a retainer line on the height adj. pin, Plastic inserts on the scalp wheels, and new specs on adjusting the spring tensioner. This tells me I have been used to test their equipment. All I asked them to do was to supply me with the parts to upgrade the mower.By the way, the plate that the front scalp wheels attach to had to be replaced from being run loose.

I sincerely hope Bad Boy has "fixed" these problems but I really have my doubts. I hope this helps someone who is considering this mower. My advice would be "Buyer Beware!")

Theres bad in every brand! Ive owned them all and they all break but disapointed that BB wasnt willing to upgrade your mower to the current or comparable upgrade. I am on my second Bad Boy and havent really had any problems but I do have 2 good dealers very close to me. Ive had very good dealings with all the mowers ive owned except one dealer who I bought 3 Everrides from but in general your dealer should go to bat for you.

No bad press about BB last long here. Usually too many posts get put up trashing them and then the thread gets deleted or locked. I realize this man is just stating his experiences, but we all know it won't be long before the chips hit the fan when BB is the topic.

His facts are facts not misrepresenting anything bad in any way. They arent backing there product and thats the facts he most likely has a paper trail showing the same problems over and over and something should be done regardless of what color the machine is.

His facts are facts not misrepresenting anything bad in any way. They arent backing there product and thats the facts he most likely has a paper trail showing the same problems over and over and something should be done regardless of what color the machine is.

If that is directed at my post, then you should re-read it. I said that it was his experience, and I didn't say that he was misrepresenting anything. Clearly he has a legitimate complaint. However, there are a lot of guys here who love to hate on BB and they always find these threads. I believe BB has a long ways to go to be competitve, but I don't wish them any bad luck.
OP- try contacting a member named Retrodog here on LS. He is a BB dealer. If anyone can help you, I'd say it would probably be him.

Im sorry you had a bad experience with a new mower. There are several brands available that should give you many many hours/years of trouble free service. To many BB horror stories get deleted from this site for some reason. It is a shame because some people could have made better decisions based on them and avoided a situation like yours. We had a couple dealers up here try to sell BB with no luck and dropped them. When I looked a them I felt no need to demo one as the fit and finish has a long ways to go. Also I dont like the way things are designed on them. Its only my opinion and Im very picky when it comes to fit and finish and the design of equipment.Posted via Mobile Device

I have a dealer here and they sell Scag,Hustler,Exmark,and BB and they claim for the money BB is the best buy.Also right now that dealer has been selling alot of Hustler Hyper Drives because people want the latest and greatest no matter what it costs as long as the finance company will go for it.

I myself have heard more customer complaints from dealers and owners alike from BB customer service than on any other brand.

If I were buying a new mower I believe it would be the new Gravely 460!